Fwurg

[Lord-Senator Kachiso Doshima]

As the Ministers arrived they were immediately wave through, not having to wait at all.

The only delay was from the young male secretary asking if the Ministers wanted something to drink brought to them.

As they entered the Chancellors office they found the Chancellor sitting at the head of a large conference table. Apart from the conference table there was a desk at the end of the room. The only decoration was a large painting of the edge of the atmosphere of a planet, the curvature visible. Most likely the planet was the Astrian homeworld, Stellaria.

The man greeted each Minister with a polite nod, motioning to each to take a seat. He remained quiet until the last Minister sat down.

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

Senator Dewa Lanadi, the minister of Commerce, was one of the first to arrive.

She returned the polite nod and sits down.

[Senator Danar Tassar]

Senator Tassar arrived and gladly accepted tea. "Greetings, my compliments on the decoration," he said when sitting down.

[Senator Ardios Eldrilith]

Senator Ardios Eldrilith arrived only a few moments after Senator Tassar.

"Greetings." was all that he said while he looked around, looking at the individuals that are present before sitting down.

[Senator Mathi-ey C'b'rton of the Divine Fiefdom of Highmons]

The Minister of Justice joined them as well, settling down silently, intent on listening more than speaking.

[Lord-Senator Kachiso Doshima]

((OOC: Though only Danar Tassar stated his drink, for form I'm going to pretend everyone ordered something. It's a bit rude if two people have drinks when the rest doesn't, it's not vital to anything but it sets a nicer scene. Unless anyone has specific objections? Drinks will be served in my next post, if you have any objections to your character getting a drink please note that before then.))

"Welcome, I'm glad you could all join for this first meeting of our cabinet. I look forward to working with each of you." The chancellor started. "I hereby open this meeting of the cabinet on 18th of January 2016."

"The first point on our agenda is whether anyone has made promises to third parties to secure support during the elections and what any eventual promises entailed."

Kachiso waited for anyone to respond, either with a positive or a negative response, before he would continue.

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

((OOC: My character did not order a drink on purpose. Therefore, I prefer that she not get a drink. Then again, if the servant ICly decides to serve her a drink anyway, it will happen (she just won't drink it).))

"Thank you, chancellor.", Lanadi replied.

"Without going into details, I stated to lady de Montrève that I plan to support the industry as part of the support for colonisation. If this can even be called a promise, it is one that is easily fulfilled."

"I have not needed to make any direct promises to secure support."

[Lord-Senator Kachiso Doshima]

((OOC: That's fine.))

"Very well, anyone else?" Kachiso asked. Receiving no reply he continued.

"In that case I suggest we move on to our next point. Which is the Ministry of Justice."

"There has been only a single term in which the Divine Fiefdom of Highmons has not held this ministry. There have only been a few cases where the Ministry of Justice actually has needed to rule on interpretation of the law or settle a conflict between members, but they have done an amicable job non the less."

"However, the lack of such cases raises the question if an entire ministry is required to settle such matters. Could a Supreme Court for the Union not rule on such matters equally well, for a much lower cost?"

"The governing and policing of Unity can easily be handled by the Ministry of Finance, or any ministry for that matter. The same goes for the bureaucracy and maintenance of the senate building."

Just as the chancellor finished his sentence, the secretary entered with a tray with the beverages the ministers ordered. After asking Senator Dewa if she was certain she didn't want something to drink, he left after hearing her reply. After the secretary left Kachiso set his cup of coffee back on the table, after taking a sip, and continued.

"Suspending the Ministry of Justice in favour of a Supreme Court of the Union would free up enough budget to lower taxes. I believe this Supreme Court should have five members, one of which should be a permanent member as chairperson and four chosen from Union members who can put forth nominees. I would nominate the Senator Mathi-ey C'b'rton of the Divine Fiefdom of Highmons as the permanent member."

"I would like to hear your thoughts and questions on this. Especially yours, Minister C'b'rton."

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"Before we discuss the financial side of the matter, I would like to ask for some clarification of the principles behind the proposal.

Chancellor, could you explain your reasoning behind proposing that only a single member is permanent?

In my opinion such a construction would only invite favouritism and politics into a body that should remain neutral. Would it not be better to have every chair in the Supreme Court be appointed for life? That way, the judges know that they can make the unpopular ruling without fearing for their position.

Only if a chair becomes available, due to the resignation or death of judge, would it be necessary to appoint a new judge. In which case the members of cabinet can nominate new candidates for the senate to vote from."

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"We of the Teprogrenaian Consensus believes this to be an interesting point to discuss indeed. Both the restructuring of the Ministry of Justice as how the new construct would look like.

Do we of the Union require a way to revoke the supreme court? With permanent positions, members of the court might be more inclined towards favouritism and corruption since they don't have to fear for their position. We of the Consensus believe a rotating court is beneficial for this. The board members don't necessarily have to be elected by vote.

Another idea is to have a pool of multiple court members, when their input is required a random selection is made from the members. This should also prevent most of the raised concerns."

[Senator Mathi-ey C'b'rton of the Divine Fiefdom of Highmons]

"I believe I could support the restructuring of the way the Ministry of Justices' tasks are handled, provided that we can ensure continued neutrality in the procedure and have guarantees that the new system will be fair and reasonable and that any judgement will be of the highest quality.

I am happy to serve the Union as Minister of Justice - regardless, I will not be offended if this position is changed, even if it means my replacement. As long as the ideals of the Union are maintained.

As for the details of how to implement this, I have no strong opinion on this."

[Senator Ardios Eldrilith]

"The Praetorian Empire supports the proposal to replace the ministry of justice by a more cost efficient structure. However we do believe the current minister of justice is right in stating that neutrality could be an issue on your new proposal. Each member world should be capable of providing judges that are fair and reasonable. Randomly selecting three or five judges could work when there is a matter to be resolved. When necessary the judges can bring the matter to the senate as a motion of input when it is off greater political importance.

We believe this could be a good solution to reduce the taxes to the Union."

[Lord-Senator Kachiso Doshima]

"My reasoning, Minister Dewa, is to keep the court neutral. I agree with you the court should be able to make an unpopular decision, however, they need to remain impartial. I believe that membership for life will promote being partial and corruption. There is also the fact some species live longer then others. It would be unfair if one of those species could have a judge on the court for centuries while others only for a few years at most."

The Chancellor said. He took a sip of his coffee.

"Perhaps appointing the judges of the court for a certain period of time, is a good alternative? Then after that period new judges are appointed."

"Minister Tassar, I believe a pool holds merit in theory. I fear, however, that it won't be possible to randomly appoint judges to a case. At least not to everyone's satisfaction. There would likely be many to call a foul, claiming judges weren't chosen random or that the appointed judges had preconceptions about the case. We need a court that can be trusted and respected, not questioned and doubted. For that we need a limited set of judges. There is no doubt in my mind that every member of the Union would enter one of their own into a pool."

"Minister C'b'rton, it is exactly that attitude which makes you the perfect candidate to lead this Supreme Court. This Supreme Court should indeed uphold the Union's ideals."

"I believe we can all agree anything other then judgement of the highest quality would be an abomination, rather then a beacon of justice and fairness. Which is why it is important we ensure this proposal is well thought out and we all can agree it is fair and results in a just system before we put it to the senate."

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

((OOC: While I was writing this post around 16:00, Kachiso posted a reply that I completely missed, making my post a tad strange. I have editted it a bit to better match the flow of conversation.))

"So if I understand the idea of random selection as minister Eldrilith and minister Tassar propose it, we will be maintaining a much larger pool of judges in favour of maintaining a Ministry of Justice? And when a case is to be heard, the member worlds will simply have to accept that a few random judges from other worlds will have the insight and wisdom to adjudicate and weigh international stakes... And all cases brought before the ministry of justice will have great political importance, so in effect you propose to make the Senate the highest judiciary body."

The veolian senator's expression spoke volumes on her incredulity on this proposal.

"I so no merit in this scheme of random selection."

"For starters, it would mean that we require a large of group candidate judges for when a court needs to be formed if we are to have a meaningful random selection. These judges will have to be knowledgeable Union Law and intergalactic treaties. So we either use the taxes freed up by disbanding the Ministry of Justice on this education project, or we must demand from all Union members that they start spending the necessary themselves -- either way, the savings you propose are immediately repurposed to education."

She looks at the chancellor and the other ministers.

"Additionally, as already said by minister Eldrilith, the judges in this pool should be fair and reasonable. I think that above all they should also be impartial. Many of the judges will certainly try their best. Yet pressuring a judge to decide one way or the other is not difficult for the government of the world they live on. We should ensure that the judges in this pool are not dependent upon any single world. We can only do this well if the Union directly pays them for their work, and guarantees certain safeties. In effect, this is the same way career officers in the Union military are supported."

"Those are the problems I see with the random selection form a pool of judges.", she stated. "I envision a Supreme Court without all this bureaucratic hassle. Much more in line, I think, with the idea of the chancellor."


"I think it is better to create a Supreme Court that is truly impartial. The Supreme Court will have seven chairs, each chair to be filled through a senate vote, with candidates for the position being nominated by the cabinet -- that way there will be at most four nominees whenever a chair becomes empty. These Supreme Judges will be directly in service to the Union, and can live on Unity. They will dedicate their time to studying Union law, Union member law, intergalactic treaties, etc.

Any case handled by this court will be assigned a panel of five judges. Because the Supreme Court itself has seven chairs, this means that a Supreme Judge can recuse themselves if they feel they can not be impartial.

This vision of the Supreme Court will not only offer an impartial hearing, it will also ensure the continuity of rulings, and it will not lack in knowledge and expertise through dedication to a single purpose."

"Though it is unclear to me why the lifespan of the judges should factor into this. Why is it unfair for a species to have a judge in the Supreme Court for a long time? Last I checked species were a biological, not a political, division. Surely you can not claim that long-lived species are only allowed to spend a few short moments of their life serving justice while shorter-lived species get to devote a third of their life to justice?"

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"So in effect, Dewa Lanadi," Tassar said directly to the veolian senator, "you propose a pool of seven judges, whereof five are chosen when a ruling is required. I am glad that we, our two factions, can agree on the basic principle."

Then the Teprogrenaian senator directed his attention to the group again: "We of the Consensus think that a slightly larger court, with in the line of twice the size of the panel used for rulings, is more beneficial for the impartiality of the judges. It will be harder to influence the court making the court more reliable. So in case of Dewa Lanadi her proposal, the court would exist of at least ten judges following our proposal."

"About the nominees, we suppose that the senate can disprove of all four of them? Otherwise, even when four unsuitable candidates are nominated the court is stuck with an unsuitable judge."

[Lord-Senator Kachiso Doshima]

"I disagree Minister Tassar. I think seven judges are enough. More would probably create conflict over which judge should be part of a panel."

"I also doubt that the entire senate would find all four nominees unsuited. An elected cabinet should be trusted enough that this won't be an issue."

Kachiso turned to Minister Dewa.

"I agree that long-lived species have the right to serve justice for the same fraction of their life as a short-lived species. However, is it fair that one or two judges hold their position for a century or longer, while the others switch every decade or two? I will concede this matter to you, Minister Dewa, I just wish for these things to be kept in mind."

He turned back to the rest of the group.

"In the interest of impartiality, I suggest only a single judge per Union member may be part of the Supreme Court. This is more a formality because I believe such an occurrence won't happen."

"There also might be a rare occurrence where more than two judges wish to excuse themselves from a panel. I believe that, in such an instance, it would be best to ask the Jedi to provide a supplementary judge from their ranks. That way we can ensure the Supreme Court remains impartial in such instances."

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"We propose to create this supreme court diligently and cover all areas, not based on what one of us believes or doubts. Therefore, we propose that the senate have the option to reject all four candidates. If this happens, the cabinet forwards four new candidates."

"Maybe, we can ask the jedi to fill in a seat permanently? Matter of which jedi will fill the seat might be left to the jedi council. The jedi are impartial and can provide a different view on the matter, this might make their presence in the court beneficial."

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

((OOC: Why is this discussion not further by now? It has been almost 4 weeks already since the last post ~_~))

The young (by hemet veolian standards) veolian senator broke the awkwardly long silence.

"And why exactly, senator Tassar, should the senate have some special None-of-the-above option for this vote? Is it not simply a matter of picking which nominee they deem most fitting... What you propose will only lead to every world in the senate stating their preferred candidate, and voting none-of-the-above until that candidate is nominated. I feel that that defeats the purpose of the nomination process as a whole."

"As to the matter of having Jedi in the court. I am of the opinion tha tsettling disputes between Union members is a political matter, not a military or spiritual one. As such I do not think that the Jedi have a place in the court."

Turning the chancellor, she continued.

"Chancellor, I fail to see how allowing at most a single judge per Union member is in the interest of impartiality. Should not these supreme judges be selected purely on merit? I suggest we leave it to the senate to determine such things through their vote on the nominees. That way we do not preclude the possibility of a world whose culture values impartiality from providing two judges, nor do we prevent the appointement of a nominee that is clearly favoured by the senate."

"I suggest that we let the matter of the exact appointment details rest for now, and focus on the other issues that need discussing. Such as the handling of the other matters in the purview of the Ministry of Justice, and the repurposing of the budget. Chancellor, could you elaborate on your concrete plans with these funds?"

[Lord-Senator Kachiso Doshima]

((OOC: Probably my fault, been having some issues.))

"Very well, Minister Dewa." The Astrian man said.

"I also agree with you that the senate shouldn't be able to reject all four nominees, nor do I think the jedi should be involved in politics within the Union."

The Chancellor sat up straighter.

"As for repurposing the budget, I believe the budget portions for governing Unity and maintenance of the senate building can be transferred to the Ministry of Finance, which will take over these tasks. Costs relating to the bureaucracy can be divided between each ministry as will personnel salaries and asset depreciation.

By my estimates this would gain 180 per plus the contingency budget of 250 per . Provided the afore mentioned costs remain the same.

This should be enough to lower the rate on tax bracket 1 from 10% to 8%."

((OOC: In case you where wondering were the 180 came from: Ministry of Justice page says 500 for bureaucracy and senate and 400 for miscellaneous. These should be for 5 ministries so one ministry: 500+400=900 , 900/5=180 .

I don't think we can get better numbers for money saved, without very lengthy discussions. We would require to know the expenses for these things for each ministry separate and I have neither the time nor the will to do that properly. I don't expect anyone else to either. Which is why I just split everything equally.))

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

"Chancellor, I do not think we should further burden your office with the responsibilities of policing and maintaining Unity. I do agree with moving the budget for bureaucracy and the senate to the purview of the Ministry of Finance."

"I propose that instead of we create the office of the Mayor of Unity. Policing and maintaining Unity will be the responsibility of the Mayor of Unity. It also creates some distance between unfortunate events on Unity and the Chancellory. That way the chancellor won't be held responsible for events on Unity.

As for the budget. I suggest we move the bulk of the budget associated with policing and maintenance to the office of the Mayor of Unity. That means that we move 200 for policing and another 1500 for upkeep and maintenance of the city and planetwide infrastructure, and 320 for miscellaneous costs like salaries and such. This sums up to 2020 , which could be transfered directly to the office of the mayor.

I suggest that the position of mayor is not an elected one, but that it is simply an appointment like many other high-placed Union officials."

"What do you think of this direction?", Lanadi looks at the other ministers to see their reaction.

((OOC: As far as I understand, the miscellaneous costs are not for all ministries... Defence and Foreign Affairs have their own misc. costs it seems. So that would be (500/5 for reduction by one ministry + 400 unneeded misc. cost) = 500 . But we have to take into account that the misc. costs are regular expenses and can not suddenly be pushed back into the game's economy.

So, I propose to say that we free up agree with the 180 number. I explain where the other 320 go in the IC part of this post as moving to the office of the Mayor)))

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"We think that these ideas are heading in a good direction."

[Lord-Senator Kachiso Doshima]

((OOC: You're right, Defence and Foreign Affairs do have their own misc budget. My bad, I looked on one other ministry page and didn't see any misc so I assumed none did. But your solution is fine.))

The Chancellor nodded. "Very well, I see definite merit in these ideas."

"I propose we put the following vote to the senate." This document was transmitted to the datapads of the four Ministers present.

The Supreme Court of the Union

• Article 1. The Ministry of Justice will be abolished.
• Article 2. A new institute will be created: the Supreme Court of the Union.
• Article 3. The tasks performed by the Ministry of Justice will be divided among the Ministry of Finance, the Offices of the Mayor of Unity and the Supreme Court of the Union.
  
  • I. The Ministry of Finance will take over tasks related to bureaucracy and the senate.
  • II. The Supreme Court of the Union will take over the tasks of solving legal disputes between Union members, Union law interpretation cases and other legal tasks previously performed by the Ministry of Justice.
• Article 4. The budget of the Ministry of Justice will be divided between the Ministry of Finance, the Offices of the Mayor of Unity and the Supreme Court of the Union, according to the tasks performed by each of them.
• Article 5. The surplus budget, consisting of unnecessary operational costs and contingency budget of the ministry of justice, will be absorbed by the budget of the ministry of finance, to be repurposed at a later time.
• Article 6. The Supreme Court of the Union will have seven chairs, each filled by a Supreme Judge.
  
  • I. The Supreme Judges will be in direct service of the Union. They are not allowed to maintain another position in service of the Union and they cannot be a Senator.
• Article 7. A panel of five Supreme Judges will handle the cases brought before the Supreme Court of the Union.
  
  • I. The members of the panel will appoint a chairperson from among them. ((OOC: The player of this chairperson will also keep an eye out for IC conflicts which represent OOC issues between players -- and can contact those players through OOC means where necessary.))
• Article 8. Each chair on the Supreme Court of the Union will be elected by the Senate.
  
  • I. Each Ministry will provide one nominee for the Senate to vote from, for each chair.
  • II. Voting will be done in accordance with the Union Voting Law.
• Article 9. Each Supreme Judge will be housed on Unity.
  
  • I. Specific individuals can be housed with the Supreme Judge at the judge's request.
  • II. Security will be provided to the Supreme Judge and the requested individuals from Article 9, I under the purview of the Offices of the Mayor of Unity.
• Article 10. Supreme Judges are elected for life.
  
  • I. If a Supreme Judge is determined, by multiple independent experts including at least one Jedi, to no longer be mentally capable of performing their task, they will be relieved of duty and a new Supreme Judge must be elected in accordance with Article 8 of this act.
  • II. Supreme Judges will be provided with any and all medical aid required to physically enable them to continue to perform their task, keeping in line with their right to medical self-determination.
  • III. A Supreme Judge can offer their resignation to the Chancellor. The Chancellor can either reject the resignation or accept the resignation in which case a new Supreme Judge must be elected in accordance with Article 8 of this act.
  • IV. If six Supreme Judges consider the remaining Supreme Judge to be unable to perform their tasks to requirement they can offer an Advice for Resignation to the remaining Judge. This advice will also be presented to the Cabinet and the Senate.
• Article 11. A transitional period will allow all the necessary adjustments to be made.
  
  • I. Every two weeks a Supreme Judge will be elected, in accordance to Article 8 of this act, until all chairs have been filled.
  • II. Each Ministry must provide a new nominee for each voting round.

The Offices of the Mayor of Unity

• Article 1. The Ministry of Justice will be abolished.
• Article 2. A new institute will be created: the Offices of the Mayor of Unity.
• Article 3. The tasks performed by the Ministry of Justice will be divided among the Ministry of Finance, the Offices of the Mayor of Unity and the Supreme Court of the Union.
  
  • I. The Ministry of Finance will take over tasks related to bureaucracy and the senate.
  • II. The Offices of the Mayor of Unity will take over tasks such as the policing of Unity and other governing tasks, pertaining to Unity and Unity City, previously performed by the Ministry of Justice.
• Article 4. The budget of the Ministry of Justice will be divided between the Ministry of Finance, the Offices of the Mayor of Unity and the Supreme Court of the Union, according to the tasks performed by each of them.
• Article 5. The surplus budget, consisting of unnecessary operational costs and contingency budget of the ministry of justice, will be absorbed by the budget of the ministry of finance, to be repurposed at a later time.
• Article 6. The Offices of the Mayor of Unity will be lead by the Mayor of Unity, who will be appointed by the Chancellor at their leisure.

The Chancellor waited.

((OOC: I do have some questions regarding the budget for the offices of the mayor, but I think that is better discussed at the write-a-ton.))

((OOC: Edit: I have adjusted things as was discussed during the write-a-thon. Can it be checked to see if I missed anything decided there or other mistakes on my part. Please use an OOC note to notify me of any errors or problems.

Edit 2: fixed errors and problems.))

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

((OOC: On The Supreme Court of the Union:

We discussed the head judge thing during the write-a-thon, but as I understand it the chair of panel is to be selected after the panel for a case has been created. So I would move 6(II):

The Supreme Judges will appoint a Head Judge from among them. ((OOC: The player of this head judge will also keep an eye out for IC conflicts which represent OOC issues between players. This is a neutral party (likely to be Mercury) who will make a decision on this.))

To 7, and change it to "The members of the panel will appoint a chairperson from among them. ((OOC: The player of this chairperson will also keep an eye out for IC conflicts which represent OOC issues between players -- and can contact those players through OOC means where necessary.))"

I would leave out any mention of neutrality or Mercury. I feel that it is not necessary to state such because of the established tradition that senator Mathi-ey C'b'rton takes the lead on such things. Furthermore, it make a strange implication that Mercury is somehow more neutral than other players.

On: The Offices of the Mayor of Unity:

Article 2: "A new institute will be created: the Supreme Court of the Union." Should this not be The Office of the Mayor of Unity"?


Furthermore I would remove both articles 5. It is true that this money is freed up, but to put such a constant value in the law is strange. I think it is better to say that "The surplus budget, consisting of unnecessary operational costs and contingency budget of the ministry of justice, will be absorbed by the budget of the ministry of finance, to be repurposed at a later time."))

[Lord-Senator Kachiso Doshima]

((OOC: I have changed the proposal according to your suggestions.))

[Chancellor Dewa Lanadi]

((OOC: Looks good!))

"That seems to be a strong proposal, chancellor. What time period do you have in mind for the introduction of these laws?"